


When Words Fail

by MadisonAvenue21



Category: Impractical Jokers
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Dating, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Friendship to Love, New Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2018-10-18 23:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10627461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadisonAvenue21/pseuds/MadisonAvenue21
Summary: You’re the new girl working behind the scenes, running errands, and doing odd jobs. You don't expect to get anyone's attention but it just so happens Sal notices you.





	1. Smile

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was originally supposed to be a one and done kinda story but of course I always write too much. It got really long and I got new ideas on how to take it further, so it's going to be multi-chaptered. I'm not sure how many chapters at this point but it shouldn't be that many, who knows? Feedback always appreciated<3  
> Fair Warning: I have no idea what the hell goes on behind the scenes on that set (God only knows tbh) I'm just making this shit up as I go xoxo

You’re nervous, and rightfully so. It’s your first day working on a television set, you weren’t even looking for this type of job but you somehow landed it with no trouble. Sure, it’s really only stuff like running errands and doing odd jobs but you decide to be optimistic. You just moved to New York from your hometown and the only job you thought you’d score is a waitressing gig in some run-down diner. You have been watching Impractical Jokers since the beginning and love it, you never even thought you’d get to meet the guys and now you’re working on the same set with them.

You arrive on set early and immediately they put you to work; setting up stations, moving equipment, anything that needed an extra pair of hands. Most of the morning you spend taking in the entirety of the situation. You try not to get in anyone’s way as you walk around set, in awe of all that it takes to film just one challenge. Today, they were filming in an apartment but you’re not sure what specific challenge they’re doing.

The guys start arriving shortly after, first Murr, then Joe, then Q, and Sal arrives last but not late. As he navigates the set, his face is buried in his phone but he manages not to runs into anything. Q is over on the other side of the room, talking to a few of the crew members; Sal takes a seat next to him without any thought and neither one of them seem disturbed. Eventually, they begin to goof around and talk. You watch them carefully, wondering what it would be like to know someone that well. Being in a new city with no friends has really got you thinking.

You’re shaken from your stare when one of the makeup artists comes up to you and asks you to go quickly wash some brushes in a nearby sink. You obviously can’t say no, so you tear your eyes away and try to find a sink. You noticed there are two to pick from, there’s one in the kitchen which near the area where Sal and Q are sitting and there’s one in the bathroom. You take a deep breath and soon your feet are taking you to the sink in the kitchen.

You’re even more nervous now but you still don’t know why. You don’t expect them to know you and jump up and say hello; then again, they do usually know everyone on set. You feel like the black sheep in that moment. You play it cool and begin to fill up the sink with warm water while gently place a towel next to the sink and lay the brushes on it. Your hands are wet and slick and you drop the bottle of soap, causing the sound to echo loudly around the empty apartment, some of it even spills out around you. You don’t look to see if anyone is staring, it’s embarrassing enough. You scramble to pick up the bottle, clean up the soap, and immediately start your job. You didn’t want to catch anyone’s attention but it just so happens that you did and you don’t even know it.

__

Q and Sal sit comfortably on a couch and have settle down into a silence, soon both are on their phones as if a conversation never started. Out of nowhere, a giant thud breaks Sal away from his phone and he looks up to see some girl scrambling to clean up the new mess she just made. He watches her, and smiles at how distressed she looks. He thought it was kind of cute, they were pretty casual here and she was acting as if she just spilled something on the floor of the oval office.

“Whatcha staring at?” Q asks resting his chin on Sal’s shoulder and laughs.

“Get off me.” Sal shrugs his shoulders and gives Q a look. “I’m not lookin’ at anything.” He says quickly burying his face into his phone once more, but now he’s not really paying attention. He just doesn’t want to have to look at Q. “I was looking out the window.” Q rolls his eyes and chuckles, not believing a word of it since the window was behind them.

“Really? ‘Cause I think you were looking at her.” Q nods his head in the direction of the girl at the sink. Sal scoffs, not taking his eyes off his phone screen. “Who is she anyways?” he receives no answer. Soon after, Joe plops down next to Q and places his arm on the back of the couch.

“What’s happenin’ guys?”

“Sal was staring at the new girl.” Q leans over and whispers to Joe.

“I was not!” He realizes it came out way louder than expected and repeats it in a calmer, softer tone. “I was not staring at the new girl.” He said before putting his attention back into his phone.

“Who is she?” Joe asks and Q shrugs.

“Who’s who?” Murr quickly joins the guys on the couch and takes a seat next to Sal.

“The girl at the sink. None of us have seen her before.” Q explains and points inconspicuously.

“Sal was staring at her.” Joe adds

“I WAS NOT.” Sal repeats, this time even louder than before. It seems as if the entire room goes completely silent. All three guys laugh at how defensive Sal is being.

“Really convincing buddy.” Joe laughs and Sal rolls his eyes.

__

Behind you, you can hear all four guys talking and laughing on the couch. You can’t hear what they’re talking about, you just know they’re there. You soon get the feeling that they’re staring at you. You wonder, were they laughing at you for dropping the soap? Maybe they think you look ridiculous washing brushes in a kitchen sink? Maybe you’re just being paranoid about all of it? These thoughts motivate you to finish faster and soon you quickly gather the brushes to take them back to the makeup artist. Before you turn the corner, you manage to look over your shoulder and see that everyone but Sal is laughing; he doesn’t look amused.

You don’t realize how long you’ve standing there staring. You suddenly realize that the rest of the guys notice what you’re doing and before you know it, Sal looks over and catches you staring. Your heart immediately starts pounding as you look like a deer caught in the headlights. It’s so blatantly obvious what you were doing. After a moment, he smiles at you but not just any smile. It looks like a ‘let’s get to know each other,’ flirting smile; you don’t know what to do. You panic and turn around quickly, practically running to the room to drop off the clean brushes. You can’t help but think at how red your cheeks are and how stupid you must have looked. You lean up against the wall, trying to regulate your breathing while keeping yourself busy with the next task. There was no way you were going back out there.

__

It isn’t long before the guys are on to the next joke. But if Sal knows any better, they’ll be back to teasing him shortly. They always tease him about women and dating, but he felt he was doing a hell of a lot better than Murr or Q. Okay, so maybe he was looking at the new girl; but he wasn’t staring. “ _She did have a nice ass_ ” he thinks but then shakes his head. _“Dude, come on, seriously?”_ he always seems to argue with himself when it comes to a girl, especially right now with this particular girl. “ _This is your chance to do something different for once, man. What would Joe say… ‘Be confident, Sal. Just go over there and start talking to her. Say anything, just start the conversation.’”_ He rolls his eyes, thinking how ridiculous this all was. _“What does he know… oh yeah… he is married.”_

“Sal… Sal? Earth to Sal!” He hears a loud voice and snapping in his ears. He turns towards the guys with a dazed look on his face.

“Jesus Sal, where did you go?” Murr asked.

“We’ve been talking to you for five minutes without realizing you weren’t even listening.” Q shoves him playfully and laughs.

“Were you day dreaming about your life with your new girlfriend?” Joe knocks his elbow into Sal’s side.

“Will you guys stop it, for fucks sake.” He’s sterner than before so the guys back off a little but of course, not completely. They all occupy themselves with their phones and occasionally chime in with comments on posts they see.

Sal see’s the girl out of his peripheral and it looks like she’s getting ready to walk away. He wants to go over there and talk to her but he can’t move. He’s always been shy and he hates that the guys give him shit for it. He tries to work himself up to going over there but by the time he does, she’s gone. He tries to not look disappointed as he sits further back into his seat.

“The one that got away, huh buddy boy?” Q smirks.

“I swear. to. God.” Sal grits through his teeth.

“Alright, alright. Don’t get your dick twisted.” Joe says defensively. Sal goes back to his phone, trying to keep himself together until he feels Q elbow him hard.

“Don’t look now, but I think you’ve got an admirer.” He says trying to hold back a laugh while speaking in a sing song tone.

“Do you guys ever qui-“Sal looks up and turns his head, Q’s right. She’s looking right at him, neither one of them move.

“Do something, Sal. Don’t just sit there.” Joe coaxes. Sal does the only thing he can think to do in that moment, smiles. But she doesn’t smile back. “Go over there, man.” Before he can decide what to do, she’s gone.

“She ran away. She didn’t walk, she ran.” Sal said with disbelief, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

“So, run after her.” Joe suggests. “How far could she have gone?” the guys laugh at the obvious joke of the apartment size.

“I don’t know…I don’t want her to think-“

“Dude, where are your balls right now? Did you leave them with your mom? Maybe you traded because right now you’re acting like a pussy.”

“You know what-“ Sal practically jumped off the couch and followed the hallway to the backroom but not before turning around and giving them all the finger.

“Now why did you have to do that?” Q sighed. “Now he’s gonna be pissy with us all afternoon.”

“Maybe so, but it got his ass off the couch, didn’t it?” Joe said shrugging his shoulders. “Once he gets her number, he’ll forget all about it.”


	2. Stutter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Embarrassment, smiling, stuttering. Your first day on the job is a little rough. *As stated, I know nothing about working on a TV set, I'm just making this shit up as I go along*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, my italicized text wouldn't translate over. I'm not sure why, but there isn't very much of it. I'm still really new to this site and trying to figure everything out. Hopefully it won't confuse you. Thanks for sticking with me :)  
> Anyways, I'm trying to put out a new chapter each week but I'm still in classes currently and finales are coming up, so we'll see what happens. I have a few one-shots in mind so I may work on those in between to break up the monotony. So if you like this, check out those as well?  
> Thank you to all the lovelies who gave Kudos & bookmarks.<3

You’re trying to make it look like you’re busy even though you aren’t. You can’t focus, you can’t believe what just happened. The scene keeps replaying over and over in your head and you can’t help but blush. He couldn’t have known you were staring at him, what if you were looking at the wall behind him? Really? The plain, white, blank wall? Sure, that’s what you were staring at. You know the other guys clearly saw you staring; you feel like you could die from embarrassment. So far, your first day was going great. 

One of the crew members fights for your attention as he keeps calling your name. You finally come out of your state as you hear him ask you to help move the remaining furniture in the bedroom to get it ready for the challenge; you shake the remaining thoughts away and go back to doing what you came here for, your job. You start moving whatever you can to the guest bedroom next door which is filled to the brim with stuff from around the apartment. As you’re walking back into the master bedroom to move a few more objects, you notice out of your peripheral a figure charging down the hall, it’s Sal. You can hear his shoes clanging against the hardwood; he looks like he’s a man on a mission. You quickly walk into the bedroom, keeping your head down and go to move another object. God only knows what he was walking over here for.

You hear a couple of crew members greet Sal and suddenly you don’t hear the loud footsteps anymore. You look through your hair—which is now blocking your line of vision—to see Sal leaning against the door frame. He’s trying to play it off, like he’s looking for something in the room, or like he’s lost something in the bedroom; only you know he’s never step foot in the room. You catch him occasionally looking back over his shoulder, no doubt looking to the guys for help. You hear him take a deep breath and suddenly the heavy footsteps are back. Your heart starts racing at the thoughts of Sal coming over to talk to you. You hear the footsteps stop and you take a deep breath before looking up to find it was a production manager. She shoves a stack of papers in your arms and asks you to hang them up outside the building and in the hallway leading to the apartment. 

When the production manager walks away, you scan the room for the one man you always seem to be looking for; he’s still in the room. He’s casually leaning up against the door frame, checking his phone like he’s supposed to be there. You quickly look away while he’s busy on his phone, to make sure he doesn’t catch you staring again. You stand still for a minute, trying to figure out how you’re going to get out of the room without him seeing you. He’s smart, he knows you’re going to have to eventually leave and he’s blocking the doorway in hopes that you run into each other. You clutch the papers to your chest before taking a deep breath and you start walking towards the doorway. As you squeeze by him, you see him look up from his phone and you lock eye but you keep walking. Before you know it, you walk right into one of the crew members and the papers go everywhere. 

You groan lowly to yourself and close your eyes to try to keep from crying. You take a deep breath, and kneel slowly to pick up the papers, again not bothering to look to see who was staring. You can’t help but feel embarrassed, causing a scene; everyone probably thinks you’re a major klutz. In all reality, you got a couple of quick stares before people went back to what they were doing.  
You’re on your hands and knees, sweeping the papers closer towards you before you start putting them back together. You’re not cut out for this job, it’s only going to get worse. What if you ruin a shot, or mess up the set? You keep your head down as you begin to straighten out the first stack of papers but you’re interrupted when someone gets down on their hands and knees across from you and hands you another stack. “Thank yo—“ Your throat goes dry as you lock eyes with the familiar face, Sal. He smiles, almost a nervous smile and helps you straighten out the remaining papers on the floor.  
“I’m so sorry.” You apologize at least three times before you get off the floor.

“Don’t…Don’t worry about it.” He stutters slightly and shrugs, wildly shaking his head. Neither one of you say anything else, you stand and look at each other in an almost awkward silence. You remember filming was going to be starting soon and they needed those papers hung up in the hall.  
“I should g-go.” You swallow thickly and he smiles. “Thanks for the help, and good luck filming today.” You quickly turn and start walking away before you can embarrass yourself further.  
“oh yeah, you too!” You hear him call out and you can’t help but giggle slightly.  
__

Oh yeah? You too? What am I an idiot? She’s not filming a show, genius, you are. Sal pinches the bridge of his nose and begins walking back towards the guys. Great, he knows he’s gunna get shit for this now too. He shakes his head, before silently plopping down in his empty seat.  
“Soo?” Joe stares at Sal.  
“So, what?” Sal says with a little bit of an attitude.  
“What’s she like? What’s her name? How old is she?” Q starts rattling off questions and Sal exhales loudly.  
“I don’t know” he says quickly and under his breath. He pulls out his phone and bring up whatever app he managed to click on.  
“What do you mean? You were over there for like fifteen minutes.” Murr looks at his watch and then back at Sal.  
“Will you leave me alone, I’m busy.” Sal turns to give them a look and then looks back at his phone.  
“Oh yeah, you look really busy on that empty note page.” Joe laughs as he leans over to look at Sal’s phone screen. “Come on, bud. Don’t leave us hanging.”  
“She was working, I didn’t wanna disturb her.” The guys give each other a look and then look back at Sal.  
“We saw you talking to her… on the floor.” Q raised his eyebrows.  
“Shut up, she just spilled a couple of papers and I was helping her pick them up, okay?”  
“Well you had to of talked to her then?” Murr added.  
“We said like one thing to each other, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” Sal wanted them to drop it, but he knows them entirely too well to know that they won’t.  
“Which was?” Joe asked.  
“She just thanked me for helping her and wished me luck with filming today.”  
“But you got her number though, right?” Q chimed in when he realized Sal wasn’t going to say anymore. Sal just shook his head.  
“Did you even get her name?” Sal looked back and forth before sighing and shaking his head.  
“Jesus, man. What the hell were you doing out there?” Murr shook his head.  
“I bet you he didn’t even say anything back.” Joe scoffed.  
“Yes, I did, smartass.” Sal said in a-matter-of-fact tone.  
“What did you say?” All three guys asked at once, but Sal shook his head. As if on cue, Joe and Q held down Sal’s shoulders against the back of the couch and Murr laid over top of him, really just to piss him off. The shoulders were enough to keep him down.  
“Let me up, what the hell is the matter with all of you. You’re three grown men.”  
“The faster you tell us what happened, the faster you get up.” Sal grit his teeth and closed his eyes to compose himself. Q and Joe laughed while Murr used this golden opportunity to get a picture.  
“For the love of God, fine! She said good luck filming today and I said you too.” He says it so fast the guys almost don’t understand him, but the key word is almost.  
“Oh, my god.” Joe starts giggling and soon all three jokers burst out laughing. Sal uses this moment to escape their grip and get up off the couch.  
“You know, you guys can be real assholes.”  
“Bro, come on? You really said: ‘you too’, that’s all you could think to say?” Q choked out through his laughter.  
“It’s not even funny.” Sal was getting more annoyed by the instant. “I don’t know what you’re laughing at, you’re the one that started all this, it’s technically your fault.”  
“Oh no, you went over there on your own. The only thing I did was get you off the couch. I didn’t make you say: ‘you too.’ The laughing settled a few moments later. Sal’s eyes were shooting daggers at all three of his friends.  
“Instead of laughing at me, why don’t you help me?”  
“I think you’re beyond help with that one, bud.” The laughter starts up again but only for a few seconds. Sal rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the bathroom.  
“Come on, man. We’re just kidding.” Murr calls out but Sal doesn’t turn around. He locks himself in the bathroom and it gives him a few minutes alone before filming without any commentary from the three stooges. He couldn’t help it, he was always awkward around girls. In high school, the guys would always help set him up but it never worked out for very long. The guys used to laugh it off and so would he but now it wasn’t all that funny anymore. It was more frustrating than anything. She probably thinks I’m thick headed. Sal shakes his head, putting his head in his hands as he sits on the edge of the tub. Nice, Vulcano. Another one bites the dust.


	3. Slip up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal has a little slip up and things take a bit of a turn for the both of you, but it's not all Sal's fault...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here :) Sorry for the wait, I'm finishing up classes this month so I've been so busy. Thank you to the people who supported this story so far with kudos and comments. It really inspires me to keep writing. xox

You quickly finish hanging the papers outside in the hall and hurry back to the apartment. The entire time you can’t stop thinking about Sal and how nervous he looked. You thought it was actually kind of sweet. You never thought in a million years that someone like him would be that nervous around girls. You certainly thought he had no reason to be, especially around you. 

When you get back inside, you look around and see that Sal is nowhere in sight. You try to hide your disappointment as a crew member calls you over to where most of the crew was standing. He announced they were going to be filming soon and they needed you to help with changing out the bedroom props for each joker in between turns. Minutes later, you see Sal emerge from the bathroom. His face was red and he didn’t look very happy; you frown slightly but have to remember where you are. It’s not like you can just go over there and ask him what’s wrong, not that you would dare to after the day’s incidents. From the corner you’re huddled in, you can see Sal try to hype himself up for filming. The feeling in the room is tense, everyone can tell the guys have had some kind of disagreement. They manage to quickly film the intro to the challenge with no problems and suddenly things start to move quickly. While the room is being set up for Joe’s turn, Murr and Q stand by the monitor while Sal sits by himself on the couch looking at this phone. You wonder if any of this has to do with you.

You see Q walk over to Sal slowly and whisper something in his ear. Sal cracks a smile though you could tell he didn’t want to by the way he rolled his eyes afterwards. He gets up off the couch and stands over by the monitor with Q and Murr. Soon, filming begins and you realize it’s going to be a long day, constantly moving furniture and making sure everything’s in its proper place. Despite it all, you can’t help but keep your attention on Sal. Luckily, he’s too busy with filming to notice your constant stares, which your thankful for. You don’t need a repeat of earlier. You hope none of the other crew members notice you staring. You begin to feel self-conscious about it, every time you have a free minute, you catch yourself staring. Isn’t this how all this started? You scold yourself, trying to keep your focus on the work. 

Murr takes his turn after Joe and Q follows suit. Each turn pretty much means the same thing for you: Move the new props into the room, hide out in the corner, watch the screen (and not Sal), when the turns over, move the old props and put the new ones in. You become anxious when it’s Sal’s turn, but you’re also excited. Now you actually have a reason to be looking at him, instead of just staring at him from behind six tall crew members. You notice how different he acts on camera, but it’s not a bad kind of different. He has a little bit more confidence on camera, but you can still see deep down inside he’s nervous. You can’t tell if he’s always like that or if it’s because of earlier but all you know is that you want to find out. Like you’d ever have a chance, what makes you so special? You sigh and they announce Sal’s turn to be over and that it was a wrap. Wonderful, now you have to put all the shit they crammed into the guest bedroom back. You just keep telling yourself it’s a chance of a lifetime, don’t fuck it up.   
__  
“You did great, Bro.” Q walks over to Sal to see that he was still sulking.  
“You’re still mad at us?” Joe came over and joined the guys in their small circle.  
“I think I have a right to be.” Sal takes a step away from both of them.   
“You’re upset because you told a girl, ‘yeah you too’ by accident? Grow a pair man, come on.” Sal rolled his eyes violently.   
“No, I’m upset because you guys are supposed to be my best friends and instead you laughed at me and told me I was too far gone. I was trying to be serious and you guys came in a made a complete joke out of it.” Sal walked away from the two of them and went to sit back down on the couch, for it not even being their apartment they were spending a lot of time on the couch together. Joe and Q roll their eyes and smile before Joe motioned for them to walk over there. Murr joins as he sees everyone gathering again on the couch.   
“What’s happening now?” Murr asked.  
“Sal’s having a fit.”   
“I am not.” He grits out.   
“Is this all because of that girl?” Murr asked and Joe nodded his head.   
“Seriously? How old are you? I’m getting déjà vu from high school.” Q commented clearly tired of seeing Sal act this way.  
“Well what am I supposed to do?” Sal said sounding clearly as tired. “I look like a total asshole, I sound like a total asshole. How can this be this hard?” Sal shook his head and suddenly Murr pipped up with an idea.  
“Maybe it doesn’t have to be. Guys, I have a fool proof plan.” He sounded excited but the other three guys just groaned.  
“Jesus Christ, seriously? No offence, but take your ‘fool proof plan’ and shove it up your ass.” Sal bit back. Murr twisted his face in disapproval.  
“You haven’t even heard what it is yet?”   
“Oh yeah, and how many times have those ‘fool proof plans’ worked out for you?” Q questioned.   
“Okay, maybe not that many but I swear this is a good one, just hear me out. Sal, you still have your earpiece, right? What if you stick it back in, go over and talk to the girl and we’ll help you with what to say?” Both Joe and Q look deeply surprised.   
“Well, damn. I didn’t expect something like that to come from you. Touché.” Q nods and Joe quickly agrees.   
“You know, Sal. It’s not a bad plan.” Joe chimes in.   
“You think I’m gunna trust you guys after all the shit you’ve pulled. No chance.”  
“Come on, we’re gunna be serious this time.” Murr said patting Sal on the shoulder.   
“What do you have to lose?” Joe asked  
“Besides his dignity?” Q whispered and chuckled while Sal gave him the death stare.   
“See? You guys can’t take anything serious for more than a minute. I should know, I’ve known you long enough.”  
“Alright, man. I’m sorry. Look, serious.” Q waves a hand down his smiling face and soon produces a natural looking expression.   
“This isn’t going to work.” Sal said reluctantly putting the earpiece in.   
“Of course, it will. Just play it cool.”   
“Don’t you remember who you’re talking to?” Joe laughs and Murr runs to grab the microphone and a prop coffee cup with a microphone in it from their station. Thankfully, it was usually the last thing the crew would strike from the set. “Make sure you get close enough to her so we can hear her.” Murr says as he hands Sal the coffee cup.   
“If you can get her in view, that would be even better.” Q calls out quietly and Sal shakes his head before starting to walk back towards the bedroom. Why did he keep putting himself into these situations?   
__  
You’re busy moving items of furniture, trying to move things as efficiently as possible when you see it happening again; the same scenario as earlier. Sal is walking towards you, or so you think, this time with a more hesitant walk. Not as confident as last time. You take a deep breath, noticing that he’s making a bee line right towards you. Okay, unless you drop this side table on his foot, there’s no way you can fuck this up. You see him stop right in front of you, he opens his mouth but nothing comes out. You decide to take initiative, when will you ever get this chance again?  
“Hi Sal.” You give him an awkward smile, hoping he really was coming over here to talk to you.   
“H-Hi.” You stare at each other and then you both look awkwardly back and forth as neither one of you knows what to say.  
“Can I do something for you?” He immediately shakes his head and you go back to lifting furniture. Before you can walk away you hear him call out.   
“Dude? What are you doing? Don’t let her walk away.” Sal hears Murr’s voice in his ear. “Start with an easy one, ask her what her name is.” He then hears Q chime in.   
“I- Um I never got your name earlier.” He stutters and you blush. “Dude, relax. Just repeat what we say, you sound like a busted record.” He hears Murr comment.   
“Oh, I’m Y/N” you say casually, trying not to make it a big deal.  
“Tell her it’s a beautiful name.”   
“That’s a beautiful name.” You smile and by now you’re sure you’re the color of a tomato.   
“Why would you make him say that, it totally sounds like a bitchy name.” Q laughed and he hears Sal chuckle nervously “a bitchy name?”   
“I’m sorry, what?” Sal’s eyes immediately go as wide as saucers.  
“Dude, you did not just repeat that in front of her.” Joe says in disbelief.   
“Okay, tell her she has beautiful eyes.” Murr says trying to correct the situation. He puts the mic down on the table, as the three of them watch Sal carefully.  
“You have beautiful eyes.” He blurts out quickly trying to save what’s left of the conversation.   
“Thank you.” You smile, squinting in confusion and cock your head to the side, the whole situation was taking a weird turn.   
“That’s not the only beautiful thing she has, that ass looks pretty good too.” Q laughed and elbowed Joe as they both began to laugh, moving back and forth to try and get a better look at you.  
“Yeah, nice ass.” Sal knows even before the words leave his mouth that he’s in trouble. You can’t believe what’s happening right now. Maybe it would have been better if you would have stayed away from each other. Sal is as red as you were and you’re starting to question your decision about taking this job.   
“Too bad she doesn’t have the face to match.” Murr shakes his head at Q’s comments. They had completely forgotten about the mic by this point.  
“Too bad about your face.” Sal slaps his hand over his mouth and you could see the regret in his eyes but that’s not enough for you. This was the final straw, you may not be the most important person on set, but you’re still a person. You immediately drop the end table and give him a look that could kill. You turn quickly on your heels and practically run out the door. You can’t believe you liked that jerk; what an asshole. You don’t want anyone to see you cry, but you can’t hold it in; more so out of embarrassment and angry. You felt like a total idiot for thinking that something like this would work out.   
Sal turns around and watches you run out the door of the apartment. He doesn’t even try to stop you. He’s frozen in fear, unsure of what to do. He turns to look at the guys who had just saw you run out of the building practically in tears. Sal can see all of them feel bad, they’re jaws are on the floor and they’re all avoiding his gaze. He rushes over like a mad man and starts pushing around Q first.   
“Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell is wrong with you guys?” He tackles Q to the couch and Joe tries his hardest to pry him off. “You knew I was nervous talking to her, and you guys just ran your mouth knowing I’d repeat it!”  
“Dude, I swear. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t realize you could hear us that well. Joe and I were just bullshitting back and forth.” Q said shrinking from Sal.   
“Come on, man. Everybody’s staring.” Murr said pulling at Sal’s shoulder but he shrugged him off quickly.  
“You know, for three guys who are supposed to be my best friends, you sure don’t act like it sometimes.” Sal quickly got off Q and shot them all a look before collecting his things and walking off the set.   
Q sat up and looked at Joe and Murr before they all watched Sal storm out, knowing that is was going to be their job to fix the mess they created.


	4. Correction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sal's been a sad sack, you've been avoiding him. What's it gonna take to make things right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, its been 6000 years but I told you I didn’t give up on this story, college keeps me busy. I promise to update when I can. As always, I don’t know how any of this works, I’m just making this shit up as I go xox
> 
> *Also the Italics still aren't transferring over, but hopefully it will be obvious what would normally be in italics  
> *Also Also: Follow me on tumblr @ Hashtaggfy ❣

It’s been a week since your less than perfect conversation with Sal went down and you’ve been avoiding each other like it’s your job. When you came into work the day after, you tried to stay as far away from him as possible. You asked to do most of the errands that require you to be anywhere but the actual set for the day. A lot of the crew saw the whole thing unfold, they don’t know what was said, they just know that it was bad; and no one dared to bring it up after it happened. So, they comply with your request to further keep the peace on set because the strain between Sal and the other three guys was monstrous. The room always had an awkward vibe to it and everyone acted as if they were walking on egg shells, it was the worst atmosphere to have for filming a television show.  
With tension in the air and your feelings towards Sal completely crushed, you desperately want to stay home but you couldn’t call out your first week of work, how would that look? Although, you’re not sure anyone would blame you. You decide to tough it out, and hope to every god you can think of that you can avoid him. For the most part, you watch him from a far. You can’t help but sometimes stare at him, you have to remind yourself of the terrible things he said to you in order to get yourself to stop looking. But when you do catch yourself staring, you notice that he looks as sad as you do.  
Thursday finally brought reconciliation between the four best friends; the tension in the room had finally thinned out and the atmosphere seemed to be returning to a somewhat normal state. Sal fell back into his normal routine with the guys and you keep yourself busy by helping the tech crew any way you can. You don’t have formal training, but one of the guys has taken a liking to you – in a platonic way, thankfully – and is teaching basic skills so you can help with small jobs so you’re not just confined to getting coffee and moving furniture. Today, filming was being done at a grocery store and you were all crammed into a room in the back of the store; meaning, avoiding Sal was going to be twice as hard as normal.  
“So, you think you can handle mic-ing them if you need to?” You nod your head confidently, he hands you two mic packs and two ear pieces, and gestures his head towards the guys who are huddled in a circle around the monitor. “Q and Sal need to be Mic-ed. They’re both filming next, you think you can handle that?” Your throat immediately goes dry and your first instinct is to shake your head, but you don’t really have a choice in the matter. Being on the bottom of the totem polled sucked, but what did you expect? You were going to have to meet again eventually, you just didn’t think it was going to be this soon. Clutching the mic pack with two hands, you take a deep breath and begin walking what feels like the green mile.  
***  
“We’re next. You ready, Sally?” Q laughs and slaps his hand on Sal’s back, making him jump slightly.  
“Yeah, I guess so...” He trails off, keeping his eyes on his phone.  
“Come on, I thought we kissed and made up?” Q said in a dramatic, sweet tone.  
“Yeah, yeah. I told you I forgive you. Doesn’t mean I’m still not upset.”  
“Who’s still upset?” Murr forces himself in between Q and Sal to widen the circle.  
“You know, I hate when you do that. I wasn’t talking to you.” Sal bit back.  
“Then don’t talk so loud, bud. Besides, the rooms not the big. It’s not that hard to tune in to conversations.”  
“Well, maybe try a little harder.” Murr shrugs his shoulders and backs away, running into Joe.  
“I wouldn’t go over there unless you have Midol.”  
“I heard that!” Joe shrugs and decides to take a chance.  
“Come on, man. You can’t tell me your still hung up on what happened.”  
“I can’t stop thinking about it, it’s like a reoccurring nightmare… And it’s all thanks to you jerks.” He sits down on one of the chairs that’s seated in front of the monitor. Joe sits down next to him and looks over at the other two guys. Before either can say another word, Murr elbows Q and gestures at the girl who was walking towards him. Joe clears his throat and Sal looks up to finally see what everyone else was seeing.  
“Oh shit, what do I do?”  
“Calm down, man. Take a breath.” Joe reassures.  
“Play it cool, dude. She’s probably not even coming over here.”  
“What are you talking about, Q? She’s making a bee line right in this direction.”  
“Can it, ferret. I’m trying to make him feel better.” Q grit through his teeth in what he thought was a whisper and Murr rolls his eyes at the less than favorable name.  
“You two are horrible at this.” He looks at Q and Murr and then back at the estranged girl walking his way. “I don’t think I can do it.”  
“Man up.” Joe quips and backhands Sal’s chest.  
“Ow, that hurt. It really did.” Joe shakes his head and Q and Murr can’t help but laugh. His attention focuses back to the girl walking right towards them. “Dude I can’t do it, I don’t know what to say to her.”  
“Don’t say anything, just let her do the talking.”  
***  
The closer you get towards Sal, the bigger the lump in your throat gets. You were going to have to talk to him, and not just talk to him but touch him. How could you have gone from clear avoidance to this so fast? You probably could have said no, the crew would have understood, right? Was it too late to turn back? Probably, the guys saw you already. You could see all of them huddling closer together and their tones become hushed. You wonder if they’re maybe talking about you but you roll your eyes at the thought. It isn’t all about you, what do you care anyways, you’re supposed to be mad at him. You stop just short of the table with the monitors and exhale a deep, quiet breath. All four guys stare at you, in utter silence, and you don’t know who to look at, It’s kind of making you uncomfortable. You make it a point not to look at Sal but eventually, you cave; you can’t help yourself. You both stare at each other with wide eyes, without saying a word.  
“Hey, hon, can we do something for you?” Joe chimes in, with a perfect smile on his face. You shake your head slightly before quickly correcting it to a nod and hold up both mic packs.  
“Um… I have… I mean… Ear pieces and mic packs for Q and Sal.” You say his name quietly, as if it’s curse. Q walks over and grabs his with a smile, but Sal stays frozen. You hold your hand out a little farther, signaling for him to take it. You don’t know what else to say, you can feel the other guys staring back and forth between the two of you. He stands up slowly, pulling up his jeans before reaching out to grab the equipment out of your hand. His fingertips slightly graze your palm, you swallow thickly, trying to contain your emotions.  
“Thank you,” He whispers almost inaudibly. You stare at each other for the longest moment, you think you almost see him smile. You see Joe elbow Sal and he looks over at him as to say ‘what gives?’ Sal gives him a look of annoyance before looking back at you.  
“I-I’m so sorry.” Every single part of you wants to forgive him and move on but you can’t bring yourself to do it. You were embarrassed and hurt, you still are hurt. You shake your head and quickly turn on your heels and practically run back towards the tech group forgetting part of the task you were supposed to complete. If you couldn’t event talk to each other, how were you supposed touch and be close? It was impossible.  
***  
“What are you doing? Go after her.” Murr leaned forward to try and push Sal to move but he didn’t budge.  
“Jesus, that was worse than high school.” Q says under his breath and crosses his arms.  
“You couldn’t think of anything else to say?” Sal sat back down in the chair, still unsure of what happened. He put the equipment on the table and put his head in his hands. The other Jokers gave each other a look of concern and then looked down at Sal who looked like he was ready to cry any minute.  
“I’ll be back” Q mouthed and immediately Q started running after you but you didn’t know it. It wasn’t until you felt a large hand on your shoulder that you jump slightly before turning around to see who was touching you.  
“God, you scared the hell out – Oh, sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t realize.”  
“No, it’s all good. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that.” He smiles and you hesitantly smile back, confused by his motives.  
“I didn’t forget to give you something, did I?” You wave your hand up and down towards him before he looks at you with furrowed brows.  
“Oh, oh no! That’s not what I came over here for.”  
“Oh good, I’m still learning the ropes with this stuff.”  
“I’m actually here to talk to you about Sal.” Your mood instantly changes, you try to play it off like your pissed but secretly a part of you wants to know what it’s about.  
“I’m not interested.” You say quietly before turning around to head back to the usual group you stand in; but again, Q places his hand on your shoulder.  
“Please, can you just hear me out for a sec?” He takes a deep breath and rubs his hands down his face. “All those terrible things… you know…That wasn’t Sal’s fault.”  
“Oh, I must have missed the part where some asshole stuck their hand up his ass and used him as a puppet.” The anger you were fronting made you feel bold, you were secretly glad it didn’t bite you in the ass.  
“Well… you’re sort of right? Maybe try three assholes and an ear piece?” He shrugged, immediately pointing his gaze to the floor.  
“What are you talking about?” Q grits his teeth and let out a low moan.  
“Sal didn’t come up with those things he said on his own, he was repeating after us. When he came over to talk to you, he was still wearing the ear piece. We agreed to tell him what to say to help him talk to you without making an ass of himself; but he ended up repeating things that weren’t supposed to be said and well…you know the rest.”  
“So, you three were the ones saying those horrible things about me?”  
“Ugh… We didn’t mean any of it?”  
“Are you kidding? What the hell is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you?”  
“Look, you can be mad at me for all three of the guys, it was mostly my comments anyways. I was just being a smart ass, but don’t be mad at Sal. He’s been torn up about it all week and I don’t know if this is gonna make you feel any better but he’s been a wreck.” You look at Q and exhale deeply. Oddly enough, it did make you feel a little better.  
“So, all of what he said, that never crossed his mind once?”  
“No, that was us – well me – being a complete asshole,” He pointed to himself and behind him to Murr and Joe. “and we do owe you an apology, but please, please talk to Sal. He’s been a sad sack all week and we can’t take it anymore. Even if it’s just a hello, please. If not for us then for him?” Q begged and it took every piece of you to not burst out in excitement. It wasn’t his fault, he didn’t mean any of it. So, he did like you and he was nervous to talk to you. You’d work out your problem with the other guys later, but right now, you had to talk to Sal.  
Just as you were about to run over to Sal, Pete called for Sal and Q to take the floor. “Shit.” Sal is gone before you can take another step and you sigh in defeat.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him. I fucked this up for him, it’s the least I can do to make it right.” You nod and Q starts running towards the door as he was being screamed at by the other guys to get into position. You couldn’t wait to actually talk to Sal, and this time actually talk to him.


	5. The meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q takes things into his own hands, but it's all for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the recent reader(s) who reminded me that you love this story and want an update. It really got me inspired to want to write for this story. So much so, that while I was in the middle of writing this chapter I got the next 6 chapters planned out! So, I'm hoping now that I've done that, updates won't be as spaced out. I really appreciate you guys and the support you give my stories❣
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @ Hashtaggfy. You can requests gifs/gifsets, prompts or you can just stop by and say hi! I love talking with you guys.

The entire time Sal is out on the floor, you can’t help but watch him through the monitors. You and a group of crew members are all huddled around, watching Q and Sal’s turn essential flop. Every so often, you can see Sal trying to psyche himself up for the challenge but ultimately failing every time. You can tell both he and Q are getting frustrated. Even Joe and Murr start yelling at him to ‘get his shit together.’ Wow, Q wasn’t kidding; he really was upset and it seemed to hit its peak today. You were so occupied by all of your negative thoughts of him, that it wasn’t until you knew the truth that you could see what was really going on. Rage has a way of making you see only what you want to see. You only hope it hasn’t gone past the point of no return.  
__  
“Bro, if you want to try a little harder, I wouldn’t be mad.” Q nudged Sal in the arm and sighed. Their turn was taking twice as long as normal because Sal wouldn’t cooperate with him. At first, Q just figured it was a case of bad luck but as time went on, it seemed like Sal was almost sabotaging their turn.   
“You’re throwing me all these things that are near impossible to catch. I’m not a fuckin’ ninja, Sal.” Sal just waves him off and shrugs. “Do you wanna catch then?” Another shrug.   
“We gotta change somethin’, Sal. They said they can’t use anything from the last three turns we took.” Suddenly, Joe’s voice rings through both Q and Sal’s ears.   
“Alright boys, this has gotta be it. We don’t have much time left in here and if we don’t get your shots today, we’re going to have to come back another day and everyone is going to have to do it over. Which, may I reminded you, we don’t wanna do because that means we’re going to have to stay late one day.”  
“Yeah, and we already work late enough as it is…” Murr chimes in. Q and Sal reset to their designated positions and the game begins again. Sal looks in a few carts that are nearby, grabs a bag of oranges, and tosses it over to Q, who just barely catches it.   
“Try to get something lighter and more compact. I almost dropped these.” Sal exhales deeply and looks for another item in a new cart. He grabs a spice bottle out of the cart and before Q can protest, Sal throws it over his shoulder lazily and just like the other three times, Q misses it.   
“Sal, what the hell, man?” Murr’s voice echoes through Q and Sal’s ears and Sal shakes his head.   
“He’s lost it.” Joe throws the microphone down on the table and takes out his headphones. Murr follows suit and takes his out as well, taking a seat next to Joe in one of the chairs set out for them.  
“Okay, that’s it.” Q forcefully drops the bag of oranges and drags Sal away from the cameras to an empty aisle, so they could talk alone.  
“What the fuck, dude? What is wrong with you today?”  
“Nothin’” he mumbles and crosses his arms defensively.   
“I didn’t meet you yesterday, Sal. I’ve known you for over 20 years… I know when somethin’ is bothering you. Tell me what’s wrong so we can work this shit out and move on with our lives. I’m sick of playing these games with you.”   
“Nobody’s playin’ games?”  
“Yes, you are! Acting all stand-offish all the sudden…you weren’t like this before we came down here. What did I do, huh? What is bothering Sal Vulcano today?” Q’s condescending attitude made Sal even more mad. “I understand you’ve been upset all week, and I know I’m apart of that… and I apologized at least 20 times since then, but this has to end. It’s starting to jeopardize the show.”   
“You’re damn right you’re apart of it and you’re still goin’.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“I saw you talking to her today…”  
“Yeah? And?”   
“And? AND? You already fucked it up for me once and you thought, after everything that happened, that it was a good idea to go over there and talk to her? What did you even say to her?”  
“Hey, hey… I may have said all those things, but I didn’t make you repeat them, Sal. How long have we been doing this show, and you can’t decipher what you’re suppose to repeat and what stays between us?”  
“I was nervous, you were supposed to be helping me and you ran your mouth… I should have known better.” Q shakes his head.   
“You’re not putting all the blame on me, you had a million chances to talk to this girl. She passes by you at least 50 times a day and you just sit and stare at her like a lost puppy.” Sal scoffs and rolls his eyes.   
“I can’t bring myself to say anything, I feel so terrible. What am I supposed to say to her after she thinks I called her ugly?” Q’s face lights up and he starts nodding his head in excitement.   
“We’re gonna find out.” Q walks out of the aisle and back towards the area that was set up for filming. Sal instinctually follows him.   
“What… where are you going?”  
“Wait here…” Q holds his hands out. “Boys, there’s been a slight delay… we’ll be back on track in a few minutes.” Murr slaps Joe’s arm to get his attention, he’s long lost interest in the situation and was focused on a half of his sandwich that was left over from lunch.  
“What? Tell me they’re throwing food at each other?”   
“No, they went away from the cameras for a few minutes and now it looks like Q is heading up here.” Joe looks at the monitors with a puzzled expression and then sticks his ear buds back in. Moments later, Q swings the door open and walks to the center of the room. He begins looking around, in the groups of crew members and everywhere in between.   
“What are you looking for?” Joe asks and looks at Murr with confusion but Murr just shrugs. They both go back to watching Q practically turn the place upside down. He finally finds what… or who he’s looking for… you.   
“There you are, come with me… right now.” He grabs your wrist gently and begins to pull you towards the door.   
“What are you doing, man. You can’t just—” Q holds his hand up to Murr as he passes the table and continues to drag you behind him.   
You willingly go with him, unsure of what is happening. You’re just as confused as any other crew member in the room. You don’t know what’s going on; one minute you see Sal and Q presumably bickering on the monitor, the next they’re gone and then out of nowhere, Q is dragging you away from the crew; for what purpose you don’t know.   
“They’ve both lost it.” Murr and Joe both watch the event unfold and then look to the crew, who is just as shocked.   
“What the hell is happening?” Joe runs his hands down his face in frustration, completely ready to give up.   
As soon as you make your way down the steps and on to the floor, you have a pretty good idea of where Q is taking you and suddenly you begin to panic. But why? Everything was okay, right? He wasn’t the one who said all those things about you, he was just repeating after Q. The memory instantly makes you annoyed that he’s the one who’s dragging you along like he owns you, even though you know that’s not why he’s doing it but like before, you decide you’ll handle it later. As soon as you round the corner and see what aisle you’re in, you definitely know what’s about to happen. You can see Sal standing at the end of the aisle anxiously messing with the hem of his shirt, trying to pass the time. Your first instinct is to drag your heels and run away but there was no stopping it, Q was forcing the long awaited, proper meeting between the two of you. You wonder if he’s anymore ready than you are, from the looks of it, it doesn’t seem so; which makes you somewhat better.   
“What’s your name, again?”  
“Y/N” you say quietly, and he nods.   
“It is a nice name, by the way.” You know he’s trying to compensate for earlier in the week. You let it slide as you can’t be bothered with anything else, you’re so focused on Sal you can’t even come up with a response; you just nod back.   
You stop short behind Q as there is only a few feet between you and Sal. He jerks backwards from your sudden stop and smiles. “Come on, he’s not gonna bite. He can barely say two words to ya.” You walk slowly up to Sal, who’s still in his own world. Q smacks his arm to get his attention and the first thing he sees when he looks up, is you. You both look at each other and you smile, to which he smiles back timidly.   
“Oh, Jesus Christ. Sal, Y/N. Y/N, Sal.” You both stay where you are and neither one of you says anything in return. Q sighs loudly and leans over to whisper in Sal’s ear. “I’m going back upstairs for five minutes. If you don’t ask her out by the time I come back, then I’m going to.” Sal looks at Q with wide eyes and then back at you. “Tick tock.” Q walks away and you furrow your brows, unsure of what that was all about.   
“Q, what do you think you’re doing?” Murr asked.   
“Don’t worry, boys. I’m handling it.”   
“By dragging her downstairs and forcing them to interact? Sal’s never gonna ask her out. He’s gonna sound like a broken record.”   
“Yeah, Sal can’t even say ‘hi’ to her, let alone form a full sentence.” Joe added.  
“I gave him a little motivation this time.”  
“What’d you do?”   
“Don’t worry about, all we need is five minutes.” Q said turning around one more time to signal to Sal that he would be watching.   
__  
“I’m really sorry about Q, he doesn’t think sometimes… ya know?” He stuffs his hands into his hoodie pockets and smiles.   
“It’s okay, he meant well.” Sal takes a deep breath and you wring your hands together nervously.  
“I’m also really sorry about earlier this week, I feel like such a dick.”  
“Q told me what happened, I understand.” You say softly.  
“He did?”  
“Yeah, earlier today.” Sal drops his shoulders and frowns.  
“Great, now I feel like an even bigger dick.” He mumbles.  
“He told me that he said all those things and you were only repeating what he said because they agreed to help you talk to me because you were nervous?” Sal nods his head.   
“Pretty much…” He avoids looking into your eyes, clearly embarrassed.   
“You were really that nervous?” he doesn’t say anything. “I think it’s kind of cute… I just don’t see why you’d be nervous to talk to me…”  
“You’re beautiful…” it barely comes out, his voice almost cracking. “I-I’ve never been good at this kind of stuff, ever.”  
“Yeah, me neither. I always feel so weird about it.”  
“Me too!” His excited tone lasts for only a second before he reels it back and shuts himself down again. “I mean, yeah same.” You realize that the conversation is never going to go anywhere at the rate you were going and if something was ever to come of this, it was probably going to have to be on you; your heart pounds as you slowly start to gather your nerve. Never in your dreams did you imagine this would be your life; if someone would have told you 6 months ago that today you’d work up the courage to ask Sal Vulcano out, you’d tell them to they were crazy and probably smack them in the face. But, it was happening, and you had about zero time to brace yourself for it. I mean what’s the worst he can say? No? He already told you that you’re beautiful, that’s a good sign… isn’t it? You might actually have chance.   
“I know this might be weird, a-and they do say you shouldn’t mix work with pleasure but um… maybe you and I can go get a drink sometime?” He smiles wide, you instantly feel less tense. You see his shoulders drop, the overall tension between the two of you is significantly less which you couldn’t be more grateful for.   
“Sure, I’d love to.” Holy shit, he said yes. You’re at a long pause, you didn’t prepare yourself for him to say yes, you were almost certain he’d say no, especially after everything that’s happened this week.  
“Really? I mean…great. Maybe tomorrow night? It is a Saturday...”   
“I know we’re not filming tomorrow but, it might be an office day.” You instantly try not to feel disappointed. What if he said yes too quickly because he didn’t have time to process the question, maybe he was just being nice? “But we never stay that late anyways so, maybe we can just hit a bar or something?”  
“Sounds fun, I don’t really know of any places so, you can pick.” You’re ashamed to admit that you would have gone along with anything he proposed. Was that creepy? It felt weird…  
“Ugh, why don’t I give you my number and I can text you tomorrow or something.” You smile at his shy demeanor and hand over your phone, so he can put his number in.   
“I’ll text you tomorrow… promise. We should probably go back up, I gotta talk to the guys and you probably have work to do.” He puts his hand out for you to go first and you slowly start walking towards the stairs with the biggest smile on your face.  
__  
The minute both of you walk into the room upstairs, you part ways. Sal takes his place by the guys and you huddle in with your group of crew members that you usually stand with. It’s silent for a few seconds before the usual bustle starts up again. Sal sits down in the chair next to Joe and the three look at him dumbfounded.   
“Wow bro, that was smooth.” Of course, Q was the first one to start.  
“What?”  
“We heard the whole thing up here… I can’t decide what was more uncomfortable; seeing it or hearing it.” Murr let out a laugh under his breath. Sal was still trying to take in everything that had happened, he couldn’t be bothered to respond.  
“I can’t believe you let her ask you out.”   
“Just to cut you some slack, I’ll count it as a victory.” Joe smiled but couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously, there’s nothing wrong with her asking you out.”  
“You really need to grow a pair.”  
“Enough!” Sal stood up and wiped his hand across his forehead then up through his hair. “Can we just go film this shit, so we can go? I need a break from all of you.” Sal waved his hand in a circle towards his friends and began to walk towards the door with a heavy step.   
“Remember what I said about the Midol.” Murr whispered and Joe smacked his chest but couldn’t resist laughing.   
“You better go, before he drags you down there.”   
Once again, just like earlier, the crew members gather around the monitor to watch Sal and Q take their turn, this time more successfully. You notice that Sal wasn’t as tense as before, he did still seem a little annoyed but was acting more like his normal self; the one you were used to seeing on tv, the one you haven’t truly got to see yet because of the on-going incidents between the two of you. But, you had a feeling that come Saturday night, you might just have a chance to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was at least a little bit satisfying!?!?! As I was writing this, I was kind of unhappy with it but it's just one of those chapters that has to happen because it helps us get across the bridge to the next big thing, ya know? It's kind of like one of those "Filler" episodes where nothing that significant happens but it's all necessary. Anyways, that's my spiel ✌


	6. Mattress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys are still breaking Sal's balls but what else is new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember like a year ago when I said I would upload? Well kids, it's finally happening lol. Currently, I'm finishing up the last few weeks of my second to last semester of college... College really is a prison man, I just had z e r o time to sit down and write. Thanks to Statenislandboys who constantly screams at me to write even when I don't want to ❣

You couldn’t sleep; but how could you possibly? When less than 24 hours from now, you would be on your date with Sal. You toss and turn for half the night; your excitement being the main reason for keeping you awake, but you were also nervous. This date would be the first time you two would be alone together, completely alone. _That is, unless, he brings the guys with him and use them as his mouthpiece again_. You shudder at the thought but dismiss it quickly as the nervousness you were just feeling creeps back into your thoughts. _What if he realizes he doesn’t like me as much as he thought? What if we run out of things to talk about? That’s impossible, isn’t it? What if he cancels?_ Your mind won’t stop racing with obscene thoughts that are only adding fuel to the fire.

You also wonder if he was still just as nervous. You couldn’t but help but smile, remembering the way he stuttered and turned pink as he tried to form a coherent sentence. You’ve never in your life had that effect on a man and you didn’t know what to make of it still but it makes you feel good. The thought distracts you long enough that you’re able to settle into sleep. When you finally do fall asleep, the sun was close to making its appearance for the day. Usually, you’re never up this late. You can’t afford to be with your work schedule. You know your sleeping schedule will probably be messed up with the week to come, and you know you’ll pay for it by the middle of the week; but right now, you couldn’t be bothered to care.

You could have only been asleep for a few hours, max, before you were being woken up by an annoying dinging. At first you thought it was your alarm, out of habit; your face scrunches in annoyance and you roll over to look at the clock on your bedside table; _9:00 a.m._ An audible groan escapes your lips, you definitely weren’t ready to be up. You were pushing four, maybe five hours of sleep at this point and you’re already regretting not trying to fall asleep sooner. You quickly realize that the dinging only signaled once, that couldn’t be your alarm…You grab your phone from the bedside table and focus your eyes on screen. It takes a minute to fully adjust before you can see whose name is coming up on your screen. _Sal? Well, I’ll be damn… a man who keeps his promises._

You were already impressed before you even read the message. It wasn’t that you doubted him, it was just a little piece of you still didn’t feel like any of it happened; like it was a realistic dream. The good news was, it was real and as excited and nervous as you were, the smallest piece of you was still bracing for the worst like “Oh, I’m stuck at the office” or “I think I’m coming down with something, raincheck?” all those bullshit excuses guys normally use when they put themselves into a situation they aren’t ready for but won’t admit to. You clutch the phone to your chest before taking a deep breath and quickly look down at his message.

**Good morning, I hope you slept well! -S**

You don’t know what to say to him. _Do I tell him the truth? No, then I’d have to tell him “the reason that I couldn’t sleep was because I was nervous to be alone with you because I never know what to say” Oh my God, how can thoughts be this complicated this early?_ You muddle over multiple answers, exhaling sharply before typing out a basic response.

**I did! How did you sleep? - Y/N**

**I hope I didn’t wake you up? I slept pretty well… I do, ever since I got my new mattress -S**

**No, no… I was awake. I wish I could get a new mattress, this one’s so old. I think my body has gotten used to how bad it is lol -Y/N**

**I just got one of those Tempurpedic’s, it’s amazing. Trust me, it’s totally worth it! -S**

**I’ve heard about those, my best friend’s parents had one, it felt pretty comfortable… I mean obviously I never laid on it, that would be weird, I just kinda touched it once -Y/N _  
_** _Yeah, because that’s not weird at all; touching your best friend’s parent’s mattress—once. Don’t send that… shit… too late. If he doesn’t already think I’m a mental case, this’ll confirm it._

***

“Sal? Sal?” Buried deep into his phone, Sal doesn’t hear any of the guys calling his name. Fed up, Joe tears a piece of paper out of the notebook that he’s currently writing in and crumples it into a ball.

“Wait a minute, that’s too small. Here, add another one.” Q tears a piece from his notebook and hands it to Joe, who then adds it to the pre-existing ball of paper. He shows it to both Q and Murr before launching it across the table, hitting Sal directly in the head.

“Ow, what the—?” He looks up from his phone to see all the guys with their heads down, pretending to look at their notebooks.

“Okay, which one of you threw it?” All three shrug, as Joe tries to cover up a snicker. “It’s not funny; if you wanted my attention, why didn’t you just say so?”

“Dude, we’ve been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes.” Q reasoned.  “You’re so far into your phone—”

“Yeah, get your head outta your ass, man. We got stuff to do today.” Joe said.

“Sorry, just give me a minute… lemme answer her back at least.”

“Her? Her who?” Q raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“Stop, you know who…”

“What’re you guys talking about?” Murr asked.

“Mattresses?” Sal said looking at his phone with furrowed brows.

“Unless you’re talking about pinning her to _your_ mattress, I can’t see how you got on this topic?” Q cracked.

“No…that’s not what we’re talking about.” Sal soon turned a soft shade of pink. “I don’t know what to say, I’m kind of stuck.” At this, all three guys quickly got up from their chairs and moved to hover around Sal. “Alright, back up a little at least…” Joe and Q started to read the messages over Sal’s shoulder, while Murr was left to try and push his way around the two to see what was happening.

“So, just change the subject?” Joe said without a second thought.

“I can’t, isn’t that weird? I don’t want her to think I’m ignoring her or somethin’”

“Tell ‘er you’ll let her come lay on your mattress?” Q chuckled and Sal looked mortified.

“No! I can’t say that? I still have to see her tonight, I’m not trying to make it any more awkward than it’s already gonna be.”

“Oh right, tonight’s your big date.” Q thought for a moment. “I’d still send it. Maybe your chances of getting laid will increase.” All three laughed loudly.

“I’d send it!” Murr pipped up.

“Yeah, we know you would. You have no morals.” Joe rolled his eyes and Murr crossed his arms in defense.

“Come on, it’s now or never. If you wanna be outta here on time for this date, we gotta get some work done.”

“Alright, alright. Just give me a minute.” The guys went back to their respective seats and began to settle back into a rhythm of work. Sal looked at each of his best friends and then back down at his phone. Taking a deep breath, he started typing out his last message quickly before he could regret it.

**Well, maybe you can come over and lay down on mine? -S  
I mean, you know… so you can test it to see if you like it and get your own or whatever… I wasn’t implying that we… we don’t have to be in the bed at the same time I can just watch you, not like that I just meant—**

“What’re you doing? Writing her a book?” Sal looked up to see that Q had wheeled his chair closer to him.

“No… I never know what to say to this girl, it’s like I can’t help but fuck it up.”

“It’s fine, you’re probably just overthinking it.” Q slapped Sal’s shoulder before using his arm to push himself across the room.

“Dude, you almost made me drop my phone.” Sal rolled his eyes, gripping onto his phone for dear life. Q shook his head and Sal put his focus back on the screen. “Oh, fuck me…” He immediately put his head down against the desk and nonchalantly threw his phone down.

“What now, drama queen?”

“I accidentally sent her something she wasn’t supposed to get.”

“Was it a picture of your dick?” Joe asked

“Wha— no? Who even has pictures of that on their phone.”

“Wait, you’re telling me that you don’t?” Q shifted his eyes back and forth before looking down at his notebook.

“Look, nothing could be that bad.” Joe followed up. “You gotta man up; don’t say anything else, just tell ‘er you’ll see her later and come over here before you make it any worse. Murr just ran around the corner to get something and this is the only time we’ll probably get to talk about his next punishment.” Sal groaned and quickly sent a final text message.

**I’m sorry, the guys are up my ass about work. I’m hoping I won’t be too late, I’ll text you later. -S**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was totally different then what I originally intended but I think I like this better? This was also supposed to be longer but this part was done and could be posted on it's own. Plus, I figured you guys waiting a year was long enough lmao. The date will be the next chapter so, Let's hope it doesn't take me another year


	7. Buzzed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Sal finally have a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I know, it's been forever and a minute since I updated and I love the people who still are reading this and giving it Kudos. Y'all give me the inspiration to write this thing still. To make up for the long hiatus, this chapter is TWICE as long as a normal chapter (God help you, I'm sorry I can't ever write anything short lol) But I appreciate all of you guys still! Happy reading
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr! @ Hashtaggfy

You were awake, wide awake… there was no going back to sleep after you saw the messages that Sal had just sent you. Even after you had finally forced yourself out of bed, you were still thinking about his “invitation”. You didn’t know what to make of it. It made you blush, but it also made you confused; you just figured one of the guys had stolen his phone to mess with him but the follow up message that was a mix of nervous rambling and stuttering was a guaranteed that they came from Sal, you could practically hear it in his voice as you read it AND if it was a joke why wouldn’t he have just said so, _okay stop_. Now you were over thinking it. It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just a message, right?

You didn’t want to bother him, you went back and forth on what you should text back… maybe you should just leave it? _Is it weird if I don’t say something? I don’t want him to think that I think it’s weird._ To be honest, the conversation had taken an interesting turn, but you figure it’s a testament to your relationship. Nothing about the idea of the two of you has been normal since the first day you met. You were starting to think it would always be this way. You decide to take your time in the shower while trying to craft the perfect response, if there even was one…

***

 “If you don’t get off your damn phone, I swear to God I’m gonna take it and put it down my pants.” Joe threatened

“Leave ‘em alone, man. He’s in _love._ ” Q said mockingly in a falsetto and Sal shot him a glare.

“We’re getting ready to go on lunch anyway, why do you care?”

“Because you’re messing up our flow, you’ve barely contributed anything today. You know, we saw all the times you kept side-eyeing your phone trying to check what I’m assuming is your messages?”

“You know we’re just gonna end up doing the same shit anyways?” Sal countered.

“Why don’t we just take lunch early, give Sal some time to clear his head and we’ll ALL come back ready to work until the end of the day?” Murr suggested. Sal looked up from his phone for a second to see Murr beaming from his idea.

“You know, I’d never thought I’d say this but that’s a great idea, Murray. Let’s do that?” Sal blurted as he pushed his chair back and bolted for the door.

“This is either gonna be the best thing that ever happened to him or the thing he’ll never recover from.” Joe said and Murr shook his head before he took a gulp of his Snapple.

“Alright, let’s not be dramatic. We just got keep him in check.” Murr said.

“Maybe we should just let him go home? If he’s only gonna sit there and be distracted by his phone the whole time, we might as well get rid of him for the day. Then we can scheme about his next couple punishments instead and save the new stuff for the second half of the season?” Q suggested.

“He’d never go for that, would he?” Murr and Joe looked between each other and shrugged before Joe countered.

“But we need the new stuff by the end of the month, so the network can have time to approve it. They’ve been pushing for new challenges and you know how hard it is to get one completely approved…between all the shit we come up with.”

“I’ll hang out with him next weekend and I won’t leave him alone until he has a whole list. If it’s that important, we can shoot him a text.”

“Since when do you play cupid?” Murr asked Q.

“Listen, I haven’t seen him act this stupid about girl in a _long_ time. I think this is a real thing and if it is, I want him to have a fighting chance… He’s had it rough with girls, you guys know that. They’ve mostly all turned out to be cheating assholes who broke his heart. Even if he does blow the whole thing up from the inside, he should at least be given a fair shot.” Joe and Murr sat in silence, nearly stunned by Q’s speech. Joe slowly got up from his chair and walked over to Q until they were nose to nose and held his face in his hands. “You stupid ass, get off me.”

“Q, if an alien has taken over your body and you’re still in there, blink rapidly.” Joe cracked and burst into laughter with Murr and Q not far behind. “Get. Off. Me.” He pushed Joe away through the laughter.

“How often do you hear me talk like that? That’s how serious you should be taking this…”

“Alright, fine. We’ll do it your way.” Q smiled at the news before setting out to find Sal. It wasn’t a hard task as he was still pacing right outside the door.

“Great, you’re still here.” Q jogged slowly up to Sal who had taken to leaning his back against the wall. “Listen the guys and I were talking, if you wanna go, you can go.”

“What d’ya mean?”

“You’re no help to us in there, you can’t keep your eyes off your phone. I made a deal with Joe that you and I would meet next weekend to work if we all agreed to let you go now.

“So, what’s the catch? What’re you guys gonna do to me?”

“Nothing, I swear.” He chuckled, slapping Sal’s back. “We’re not animals, man. We wanna see you be happy.”

“What if I mess it all up? What if I say something wrong or do the wrong thing? I’ve been out of this for too long.”

“What do we all always say? If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen. You gotta relax and if you need something, any of us… well Joe and I—don’t call Murray— are here for you.” He laughed to lighten the mood and Sal followed suit.

“Thanks, Q—”

“Hopefully this makes up for my fuck up from before?” he shoved his hands in his pocket and gave him a smile.

“We’re fine, buddy. I already forgave you for that. The other guys too…”

“You’re gonna be fine. Go get ‘er, Sal.” Q gave Sal one last reassuring smile before slipping back into the conference and leaving Sal alone.

**Hey, I’m actually getting out earlier than originally planned. Can I pick you up in an hour, is that too soon? -S**

*******

An hour was so soon, you would never be ready in time… Yes, you would, it isn’t a fashion show, it’s just a date. But you wanted to look nice, you were still in your pajama’s. You thought you had so much more time to get ready. As soon as you see his text, you spring out your seat but not before answering first.

**Of course not! I’ll text you my address, just let me know when you’re here… I’ll buzz you in. -xox**

**Great, any place in particular you wanna go? -S**

**I don’t wanna bore you with tourist-y places. I don’t know any “real” New York spots yet… -xox**

**You live in the city? How long have you lived here? -S**

**Just a couple weeks. I moved here as soon as I found out that I got the job -xox**

**That’s crazy! You moved here just for this job? -S  
I mean it’s not crazy like you have something wrong with you or anything-S **

**It’s okay, I know what you meant :) -xox** This was probably the longest the two of you have had a “normal” conversation without either of you blurting out something you’d regret later. It gave you hope for what was to come later in the day.

**I’ll quit while I’m ahead? See you in an hour. -S**

***

You smile from ear to ear and your heart skips a beat at your anticipated meeting but it soon starts to beat faster and faster as you remember the clock was ticking down and you were still no where near ready. When you finally pull yourself together, you decide on a black skater skirt with a t-shirt and your converse. You keep your makeup and hair simple, you don’t want to over do it. You spend so much time in front of the mirror, it’s nearly unhealthy. Deep inside your own thoughts, you almost barely hear the buzzer. You sprint towards the door, taking a deep breath and smoothing out your skirt before hitting the button.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Sal?”

“You sure? You don’t sound sure?”

“You could buzz me in and find out?” You buzz him in as a smirk spreads across your face. You try to take a couple of deep breaths, doing your best to contain your nervousness and excited feelings. You jump as a loud knock sounds at your door, this was the it; after this, there was no going back.

“Hi, come on in.” You extend the door open to let him in, he immediately uses the wall as a crutch. “Are you alright?”

“Those stairs. They’re a doozy.”

“Oh yeah, I probably should have warned you. Four flights are a lot if haven’t braced yourself first. You wanna sit down?” You ask, genuinely starting to worry.

“No, no… I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You want a glass of water? I have a bottle of water if you wanna take it with you?”

“No, don’t worry about me. I just… I gotta lose some weight, clearly.”

“You do not, you’re great the way you are.” He straightened himself out and you see him casually look you up and down.

“Speaking of great, the way you look right now.” _Smooth recovery_

“This is nothing—”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your hair down, you always wear it in a ponytail at work.” _He noticed? HE NOTICED. Okay, calm down._

“Usually I wear it so it’s out of my face. It’s easier that way.”

“It looks really pretty like this, you should wear it like that more often…not that you have to listen to me?” he blurts quickly.

“You know, maybe I will…are you sure you’re gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I should brace myself for the going down part, huh?” He chuckles even though you knew he was completely serious. You suddenly had an idea, it was bold on your part but just like before, if you wanted something to happen, you would clearly have to be the one to step up and do it. You don’t blame Sal for that. Hell, if it would have been any other guy, you probably would have just let it peter out like all your other failed attempts at relationships, but this one was different. It was different _because_ it was Sal.

“You know, there is a way we could avoid the stairs?”

“Secret slide down?”

“Yeah, no, I wish… No, um, maybe we could stay here? Rent a movie, I have a six pack in the fridge? It’s not great beer and it is a little early” your eyes shift back and forth between him and the clock. _Great now he’s gonna think you’re an alcoholic for wanting to drink at 2 in the afternoon._ “I know it’s not a theater or anything but, um, maybe it would beat the awkward first date scene that always seems to happen?”

“You know what, I think that could be fun?” After he agreed to stay, you show him around your shoebox of an apartment, almost embarrassed at how small it is. You invite him to sit on the couch, hoping the relaxed atmosphere would break the tension, but nervous energy still leaked from both of you. “Are you hungry? How about we order a pizza? My treat since you have the beer?”

“Sure, I love pizza.” He finds the nearest pizza shop and orders one large pie claiming you _had_ to have leftovers for tomorrow, it would be that good. You kill time waiting for the pizza by choosing a movie.

“We can rent one if you want?”

“I’m a cheap date, we can just find one that’s free?”

“I’ll go get us a beer and you can pick?”

“You sure you wanna leave that responsibility to me?”

“I mean, as long as you don’t put on cinemax?” You fly out of your seat making a beeline for the kitchen, smacking yourself in the forehead. _That’s a great first date topic, softcore porn._

“It’s too early for that anyways?” His countered response surprises you, but in the best way.

“Oh, like you would know?” You say, as you give him his beer. He shrugs as he takes a long sip. Just as you thought the tension was slowly dissipating… _you had to go and ruin it with that kind of response?_

“It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?”

“I figured it’s never too early to drink in New York City?”

“I’d say this is a special circumstance anyways.”

“I have other stuff if you don’t want a drink right now? Water, milk, iced te—” You go to get up out of your seat but before you can go anywhere, he gently grabs your wrist.

“This is fine, sit, I’m fine. You know, one of these days, you have to have the pizza from the place around the corner from the office, it’s so good… but really all pizza in New York is good. That’s the first thing you’ll learn here.”

“All pizza is good pizza, got it.” You pretend to write it down in your imaginary notebook and Sal giggles. It’s the best feeling in the world making someone laugh who has always made you laugh.

“You’re pretty funny you know that?”

“Nah, I’m just lucky… It’s only cause I’m nervous, I do stupid things when I’m nervous.” _Shit, you weren’t supposed to say that out loud, idiot._

“You’re nervous? Why are you nervous?”

“Nothing, it’s stupid, never mind.”

“It’s not stupid… is it ‘cause of me?” He tries not to look hurt, but you can see it in his eyes.

“It’s not a bad nervous, like this is gonna turn into an SVU episode or something… Not that I think you would ever do something like that…I just— I don’t do this very often.”

“Neither do I, I swear. Which is why I probably sound like an asshole every time we talk.” He picks at the label on his beer, trying desperately to put his feelings into something else.

“You never did, it’s just been… with moving to a new city and not having any friends or family, it’s been lonely and weird trying to get to learn a new place so fast. I mean everyone at work has been so nice and helpful, I’ve been so lucky.”

“Are you Irish?”

“Huh?”

“Irish? I mean with all this luck you say you have?” You don’t laugh but neither does he. “I’m  sorry, that was such a shitty joke to make.”

“Don’t apologize, I ruined the whole mood now anyways, I’m such a _great_ date.”

“No, you didn’t.” he scoots towards you, careful not to make any sudden movements. He reaches out and places his hand over yours. “You _are_ a great date. You’re funny, a-and sweet, and you’re so pretty I mean, me next to you? Forget about it.” You smile, and he smiles back knowing his job was done. You look down, forgetting for a moment your hands were touching. You flip yours over and curl your fingers around his palm and he took to giving yours a squeeze. Inches from each other’s faces, you both start to lean forward almost in slow motion; neither one of you realizing you’re both making the same ‘move’ at once. Lips so close to touching, you move in to close the gap but before your lips can fully touch, the buzzer rings obnoxiously causing you both to jump and bump your heads together.

“Oh shit—fuck, I’m sorry.” He apologizes about five more times as you rub your forehead, unsure of what really just happened.

“It’s, ugh, it’s okay.” You sit up as stiff as a board, rubbing your temples. “I should probably get that, let them in you know.” You verify that it’s who you think it is, the delivery man. When you walk towards the couch, you find Sal with his head in his hands, mumbling to himself. You clear your throat to make your presence known and he resets to his original position, before he thinks you saw him.

“He should be up in a minute.” You both nod; the awkward silence filling the room until there was a loud bang at the door.

“Wow, he must be in better shape than me. That was fast. I’ll get it?” You agree, and you stay silence as you hear Sal interacting so humanly with the delivery man at the door. You wonder why it was so hard for you both to be around each other. What was it exactly that made everything eventually go to shit. Why did you both act like teenagers both newly in love? It didn’t make any sense. Certainly, he knew how to have a normal conversation, and you knew, if need be, you could as well so, why was this so different?

Sal returned moments later, pizza in hand and a two liter of coke balancing in the middle of the box.

“Where did that come from?”

“Apparently they’re having a sale or something? The guy said it came with our order.” He shrugged and placed the pizza on the coffee table. “You have any whiskey?” he asked half joking, you weren’t.

“I do actually, I have vodka and tequila too.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, right?”

“Touché”

“I’ll get plates, and I’ll get the whiskey and some cups. I pulled up the list of movies that we could pick from, choose one while I’m gone? I trust you.” You insist.

You bring the plates and the cups first before going into the cabinet to grab the liquor.

“I know it’s not Jack, but this is all I got. I don’t think it’s gonna taste the same.” She said holding up the bottle of Jameson.

“That’s my favorite, that’s gonna get me in trouble.”

“Q sent me a bottle after our little “misunderstanding” … anyways, you wanna pour it? I don’t trust myself. I’m the town klutz.”

“Reminds me of when I used to bartend.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t drunkenly hit on you.”

“I mean… you could if you wanted to?” you both pick up a cup and clink them together before digging into the pizza.

“So, movie?” you ask as you take bite.  

“Have you ever seen Tootsie? It’s one of my fallback favorites.”

“I love that movie!”

“Really?” your favorite part of the night so far was seeing his eyes light up with excitement.

“Yeah, I must have seen it a hundred times. It’s one of those movies I’ll never get sick of.”

“The guys always used to give me shit for liking it.”

“I’ll back you up on it.” You smile and take a drink from your cup, _it’s strong._ But you weren’t about to tell him that. _Maybe you should tell him you’re a lightweight? NO, he can’t know that you can’t ‘hang’ as people say._

You start the movie and you both mindlessly eat your pizza all the while never taking your eyes off the screen. You enjoy watching him smile at all the corny jokes and how invested he looks in the romance of it all. When you stopped to think about it, this was better than anything the two of you could have ever came up with for a first date. The pressure was off, you were getting along—only one disaster so far— and you were getting drunk at four in the afternoon, you’d call this a win.

***

**Everything all good, man? I assume you haven’t killed each other yet since I haven’t heard from you all afternoon…-Q**

**Everything’s good, currently watching a movie… I’m getting kinda nervous to be honest.-S**

**Why? What now?-Q**

**I think she might be drunk?-S**

**What do you mean?-Q**

**I can’t say it in plainer English? We’ve been drinking since the movie started and I think I made the drinks too strong.-S**

**Why don’t you just ask her?-Q**

**She’s currently leaning on me, belting out the theme song from the movie.-S**

**How drunk is she?-Q**

**Not _that_ drunk, I don’t think? We’ve only had two and half drinks...-S**

**Oh man, she’s a dun dun dun… lightweight. That’s the worst.-Q**

**Stop, she can’t help it. I should have known better and asked if she has a tolerance or not-S**

**This is your time to make a move, I don’t know why you’re talking to me right now?-Q**

**You texted me first? What are you talking about? And another thing, I’m not touching her, that’s how lawsuits happen-S**

**Okay, well, I didn’t mean take advantage of her? I may be an asshole but we’re not rapists… Jesus dude.-Q**

**Okay, just… I’ll text you later before this gets even worse-S**

**Get sommmeee-Q**

**For Christ sake, stop!-S**

“Everything good?” you look up at Sal who has been immersed in his phone for the last five minutes

“Oh yeah, just my mom, sorry.”

“D-Don’t apologize, it’s your mom. She’s wayyy more important.” You wrap your arms around his arm and place your head on his bicep. If you would have told yourself a couple of hours ago that this is where you would be, you would have been so embarrassed for yourself, you would have died. You’re now starting to realize your drunk alter ego has way more balls than you would ever have.

“Are you, I mean, you’re okay right?”

“Me? Never better! You know, I thought I’d hate Jameson but it’s actually pretty good.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he chuckles. “I feel bad for drinking most of it. I’ll buy you another one to replace this one.”

“Don’t be silly, this is the most fun I’ve had since I got here. It was definitely worth cracking it open. You’re worth it.” You sit up, the movie long since forgotten, and turn to face him sitting criss-cross style. You sway forward and backward slightly, teetering between two cushions.

“Come here, I don’t want you to fall over.” You scoot over towards him as he wraps his arm around you. You relax in his hold, feeling safe. You look over at him, a nervous smile plastered on his face. You reach for his hand and place it on your thigh, hoping it would give him the confidence to do more than smile.

“You’re drunk, are you su—” you lean forward and capture his lips with yours without regret. You both stay still for only moment, feeling out the situation. You’re first to deepen the kiss, making another move that you know he wouldn’t make. He surprises you as his hand instinctually moves up your thigh, almost as an invitation. Without breaking the kiss, you swing around and straddle his lap. He places his hands on your hips to keep you steady, while your arms awkwardly find a place behind his neck. He doesn’t protest any longer as it clearly becomes desperate. You feel him untuck your t-shirt and his fingertips slowly slip under the hem and touch your bare skin. You break away for only a moment to guide his hands under your shirt, giving him a devilish grin but you can see the blank stare in his eyes. You lean in, but before you can go any further, he stops you, yanking his hands out from under your shirt.

“I can’t do it, I’m sorry. It’s not you, really, it’s me and I know that sounds like a crock of shit, but I can’t do whatever _this_ is knowing you’re probably drunk.”

“I’m not drunk—”

“I used to bartend for over a decade, trust me, I know what drunk looks like; it comes in many forms.”

“I thought we were having fun.” You say quietly suddenly feeling so self-conscious, spread across his lap. You swing your leg around and plop down in the seat next to him.

“I was. I am,” he corrected. “But I don’t want the first time we’re together to be like this, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want it to be like this either. I’d want you to remember it, enjoy it, I mean it’s been a while, but I think I still got it.” He raised his eyebrows and you gave him a sympathetic smile. “You trust me, right?”

“Of course I do, or I wouldn’t have buzzed you in.”

“I think maybe you should drink some water and take a nap?” You nod in agreement, Sal taking that as his signal to help you off the couch. He wrapped his arms around your waist, slowly walking you to your bedroom.

“Can you do it by yourself or do you need help?” The sane, grown part of you knew you’d be fine on your own, but the needy, drunk part of you didn’t wanna be alone.

“Can you stay?” You climb under the covers as Sal closes the drapes to keep the setting sun out.

“Are you sure?” you could hear the weariness in his voice, it almost made you regret the ask. “You know, If you want me to, I will.”

“The apartment is so small, but it feels so big and empty when I’m by myself.”

“I won’t leave, I promise.” He assured you as he slowly backed out of the room to leave you to your nap. The only remaining thought swirling around in your head was how something so good could have gone south so fast.


End file.
